Cutting Through The Crap

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Bruce Bartlett's Latest

For those still inclined to believe R bullshit (Bartlett, as we know, is a conservative economist, former Reagan adviser):

Republicans assert that Barack Obama assumed sole responsibility for the budget on Jan. 20, 2009. From that date, all increases in the debt or deficit are his responsibility and no one else’s, they say. ... This is, of course, nonsense...

.... Mr. Bush is more responsible, as a new report from the Congressional Budget Office documents.

In January 2001, the office projected that the federal government would run a total budget surplus of $3.5 trillion through 2008 if policy was unchanged and the economy continued according to forecast. In fact, there was a deficit of $5.5 trillion.

...

During the 2000 campaign, Mr. Bush warned that budget surpluses were dangerous because Congress might spend them, even though Paygo rules prevented this from happening. ...

This was the primary justification for a big tax cut. Subsequently, as it became clear that the economy was slowing – a recession began in March 2001 – that became a further justification.

As I listen to The Rominee claim The President made things worse, I look across the pond to Europe, where disaster abounds. Given the trash heap left to him, and observing how much worse Europe is doing compared to the US, and understanding that Europe's struggles affect our own recovery, to me it's remarkable that our economy is doing as well (a relative term) as it is. Added to the demonstrable obstructionism of congressional Rs, it seems nothing short of miraculous.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Sure Obama could make the case. Then Romney would counter it with a baseless assertion, which the media would dutifully repeat without critical analysis. Wouldn't want to take sides, after all. Then the electorate would become confused and throw up their hands in dismay because, you know, some of this stuff happened a couple of years ago, and Besides, math is hard.

For The Sake of My Sanity

Some will know me from my other blog, "Surgeonsblog." Of late I've given over to frothing at the mouth as the world descends into stupidity, and our politics and our citizens seem, in numbers enough to be meaningful, unable to see it. So for now I'm leaving surgery writing behind, if for no other reason than to defuse and diffuse my unrelenting sense of doom, and with no expectation of making a difference. These are things that, to me, are obvious. Except that, apparently, they aren't.

RWS™

RWS™: For those who drop by here in the middle, and wonder what it means: it's my shorthand for Right Wing Screamers, which includes such a long list it's tiresome to type it. (I distinguish these blowhards from thoughtful conservatives, of whom I sort of take it on faith that there must still be some.) You know who I mean: Palin, Beck, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Breitbart (RIP), Malkin, Savage, Levin, Ingraham, Doocey (more of a drooler than a screamer), Hewitt, Goldberg, Gingrich, Kristol, Scarborough (+/-), Bachmann, Inhofe, Bond, Broun, Boehner, Kelley, Santorum, Cain. To name but a few. Behold them in their unrepentant disregard for reality: the RWS™